Do-it-Yourself Digital Signage Content Has a Lot of Downside

Digital Signage
Customer & Brand

Remember the first house you bought? Perhaps you’re still in it. That is an exciting time. Going from renter to owner is an empowering feeling and the need to fix and improve your abode makes home improvement stores salivate. We all rise to the extent of our ability…and ultimately we usually find a project or two that overextends our skill set. Sure, it was easy to paint the living room. Replacing the fixtures was a breeze. But if you’re being honest, how did that tile project really come out? And you didn’t really try your hand at roofing, did you?

As they say, some things are better left to professionals.

The creative process is similar. Yes we all have a bit of designer in us and we can all bang out a few lines of copy. And maybe your PowerPoint slides are killer. But when it comes to creating messages for your digital merchandising, are you perhaps getting in over your head?

When people see a screen, they are expecting “television-quality” content. Anything less and it looks half-baked. So that means you have to have the skill set of a broadcast director and producer. Yes, your home movie of Johnny’s birthday party was fine for the grandparents, but selling home equity loans takes a higher standard of quality to convey professionalism.

Some digital merchandising providers are really pushing the do-it-yourself approach to creating content. They provide templates and photos and animated clips that you can customize with your own design and copy. But it still takes a lot of work on your part. You have to understand how to select the right types of files, master the art of resolution and ratio, know the most effective lengths of messages and be able to sort through the maze of .jpegs, .gifs, .flv, .wmv, and the other alphabet soup types of file extensions. Let alone getting them all to play nice together. And how do you work around all of those pesky firewall issues? This is throw-your-hands-up-in-the-air frustrating stuff!

As a homeowner, you’ve learned which jobs to tackle and which jobs to hire professionals. As a marketer, with a digital merchandising program, you may still be sorting this conundrum out. Just like around your house, know when to call in the professionals. They know how to make sure people get your messages.

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